Garden update

Okay, so I know gardens are not real exciting, but I had to post the official first picking of something we grew. So its was just basil, but we grew it. Look how tall the corn is getting.

Monthly gathering

Yesterday (Saturday 4/19) was our monthly gathering. We get together with the kids and my mom to enjoy each other's company, celebrate birthdays, and just have fun.

Brenda/Mike made a pot of chili, burned right thru the bottom of the pot. They say it was pretty good but I don't eat the stuff.

Katy cut up some watermellon. You can tell by the expression on her face how pleased she was to have her picture taken. Better watch what you are doing Katy or we might get a finger as an added bonus.

Sue got busy preparing some corn, still steaming mad at me for not doing a good job cleaning the patio furniture. It did not matter that I: 1) took out the trash, 2) hosed off the patio, 3) did the dishes, 4) put away the water bottles, 5) vacuumed the floor, 6) paid the bills, 7) updated PAF for the day's temple visit. 8) picked up the dog piles in the backyard, 9) picked up clutter, 10) solved the world's oil crises. It was all about the patio furniture. Notice the lack of dishes in the sink (thank you).

While all the food gathering was going on, I had RL duty. Just like her grandpa was as a youth (29 years ago), she is a climber. I don't see any cobwebs, just a clean patio.

Mike started cooking the hot dogs. What a mighty fine looking BBQ. I wonder who did just a great job putting that together.

Danior made sure the post was not going to fall. I taught him well.

Rebekah got her first corn on the cob. She likes it but had a hard time holding on with her tiny little hands. Look who is eagerly waiting for an opportunity

.

"Opportunities are never lost, others take those which we pass up"

Absolutely nothing to say here. Oh my!

Flowers for my lovely wife. Love you dear.

Garden Update

I know what you are thinking. Yes we do live such dull lives that our new garden is all the excitement we have to write about. Things are growing nicely. The corn is getting taller.

The radishes have sprouted and are ready to be thinned.

And the carrots are peeking up too.

This last weekend Rebekah discovered the hose and Sue helped her water the garden. This was well until RL discovered how cold the water was when she turned the hose on herself. I may be bias, but I think RL is the cutest little girl on the planet.

Just so there is no confusion, the garden is not all we do, actually I (Robert) do most of the work. Brenda came over last night and snapped a picture or our nightly routine as we relax, watch TV, and work on our genealogy. We argue about who gets the live version of PAF on the screen.

By they way, April 17th is Robert's birthday. Gifts are always accepted (and lots of them)

The Garden

After years of having the empty space in our backyard we finally got our act together and planted a vegetable garden. It only took us 4 trips to Home Depot and 1 trip to Green Thumb.

Here you can see how hard we both worked. We debated long and hard about the format. We knew we wanted raised beds because the last time we planted a garden it was well enjoyed by bugs and snails. Our soil is like cement and trying to plant anything in the clay is ridiculous. I built a fence in the front yard a few months ago and wile digging in the dirt I ended up seriously hurting my thumb. Got a condition called "trigger thumb" which lasted many months. Sue wanted one or two large boxes and I thought some smaller ones would be better.

We bought four smaller boxes and the dirt with our first trip to Home Depot. In these two boxes we planted lettuce. We made a second trip for wood to build some bigger boxes and dirt. We spent about an hour looking at sprinkler stuff. The car would only hold so much so we made a third trip to get more dirt. Then a fourth trip for more sprinker parts.

Here is one of our sprinkler feeds. It fits onto our regular sprinker pipe and is called a microsprinkler system. Looks kind of like an octopus. We have hoses going all over the place to all the boxes and fruit trees.

Our end product. Along the fence is corn and onions. The far box has tomatoes, zucchini, green onions, and radishes which have already sprouted. The little boxes have lettuce (romaine and endive) and carrots. The closer box has watermelon, walla walla onions, basil, and parsley. Inbetween are our two apple trees and an orange tree we planted late last summer. My mom says she will come over when we are away and pick our vegetables. Almost as soon as we planted the seeds the birds started having a snack.

We also planted in the backyard some flowers so I can take Rebecca on our excurions; special grandpa-granddaughter bonding time.